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ARE MONTREAL POLICE RACIST?

A new study by the Quebec Human Rights Commission raises some troubling questions about racial profiling by the Montreal police. In 2006 and 2007 , as police cracked down on youth gangs, nearly 40 per cent of the young people in the borough of Montreal North and and St. Michel were stopped and asked for their identification at least once. Just six per cent of white youth experienced the same checks.

As Premier Charest says, it is difficult to justify ID checks of people with no criminal record and no gang links, which result in neither an arrest or a ticket. These checks are justifiably resented. Also the study notes complaints about “a disproportiante deployment of police resources” in neighborhoods with many visible minorities.

Only 6.5 per cent of permanent positions in the Montreal police force are filled with visible minorities. Contrast this with the figure 19.3 per cent in the Toronto police force.

Should the Montreal police force commit to intensive recruitment efforts among minority communities?

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